“A few days afterwards the Hotchkiss gun went through the same trials and programme. For rapidity forty rounds were fired with rough aiming in three minutes, the rate being 13.3 per minute. The shooting was good, but the men serving the gun complained of being fatigued by the shocks from the shoulder-piece. The muzzle velocity was about 1085 feet, or about 300 feet below that of the Nordenfeldt. Last of all, the Italian gun was fired, but as it was designed for 1480 feet velocity, it was not brought in direct competition with the other two guns in power. The rapidity of fire obtained, however, was about twenty rounds per minute, and both the mechanism and recoil-carriage worked well.[57] “The Hotchkiss and Nordenfeldt guns were tried in competition at Ochta, near St. Petersburg, in September last (1886). The reports that have reached this country are very meagre, but are unanimous in favor of the Nordenfeldt gun. From what can be learned, the fire was first for rapidity, in which the Nordenfeldt discharged thirty rounds in one minute, and the Hotchkiss twenty rounds in the same time, the initial velocity of the former being 624 metres (2047 feet) per second, while that of the latter was 548 metres (1797 feet) per second. “The fire of both guns was directed upon a target at 1800 metres (1969 yards) range. The Nordenfeldt scored nine hits, while the Hotchkiss made none. It is more than likely that this failure was due more to defective pointing than to any defect of construction. “The trial closed with a very interesting and instructive experiment. “Four targets were placed at 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 metres; each gun was to fire as rapidly as possible for thirty seconds, changing the range each fire, from the 600 up to the 1200 metre target and back. During this test the Nordenfeldt is said to have discharged fifteen shots in the thirty seconds, and to have made nine hits, while the Hotchkiss scored but two hits and only discharged eleven rounds in thirty-two seconds. Here again the element of inaccurate sighting may be largely responsible for the difference in the number of hits, but the great disparity in the number of rounds fired must be due to the mechanical defects in the Hotchkiss system by which the action of its breech-block is too slow. Notwithstanding the reported success of the Nordenfeldt gun in the trials, the Russian government ordered a number of Hotchkiss guns and no Nordenfeldts.” [Illustration: NEW 6-INCH BREECH-LOADING RIFLE.]